How Rangers can win the league despite Old Firm derby loss to Celtic

Steven Gerrard is looking to win his first Scottish Premiership title trophy this season (Image: REUTERS)

Sign up to FREE email alerts from Daily Star - Football

When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. OurPrivacy Noticeexplains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Steven Gerrard has great hopes of claiming a first Scottish Premiership title for Rangers since 2011.

In his debut managerial campaign, he took the Glasgow outfit to second for the first time since 2012.

But he wants to go one better this time and knock their biggest rivals Celtic off their perch - who have claimed a dominant eight titles in a row.

However, Gerrard could not have had a worst start after losing to the Hoops at Ibrox on the opening Old Firm derby of the season.

Odsonne Edouard scored the opener for Celtic with a cool finish (Image: GETTY)

Rangers were poor throughout as Celtic claimed a 2-0 win courtesy of goals from Odsonne Edouard and Jonny Hayes.

But Gerrard can take hope in the fact that Gers have done it before from this situation and former Rangers midfielder Alex Rae has revealed exactly how it was done.

He said: “It’s really about how Rangers react to the Old Firm defeat. They’ve got Livingston at home in the league after the international break and then in the Betfred Cup so it’s about going on a run.

Read More

Related Articles

“If you go back to season 2004/05 we lost the first Old Firm game and then went on a run that took us up to Christmas and it’s going to have to be something similar.

“We lost 1-0 to an Alan Thompson goal at Parkhead five minutes from time and that was a real set-back and it’s about how you react to it.

Neil Lennon celebrated with Scott Brown at Ibrox in front of the travelling Celtic supporters after they beat Rangers 2-0 (Image: PA)

“We bounced back and we beat Celtic at Ibrox in the League Cup quarter final and beat Dundee United 7-1 in the semi-final so we got the belief.”

The 49-year-old was on media duties for the Old Firm last week and Rae admitted that the defeat would be a sore one for Gerrard’s men.

He said: “It was a tough one to take because of the good start Rangers had and that meant the expectation was that the Old Firm game would be a big moment.

“Everyone affiliated with the club felt confident, especially going into an international break so the result was a bit of a reality check.

It was a day to forget for Rangers as they slipped three points behind Celtic (Image: GETTY)

“But I’m also experienced enough to know that goals change games and for 30 minutes there was absolutely nothing in the game.

“And then the opening goal arrived from what was very good pressing from Celtic’s point of view but two mistakes from Rangers’ point of view.

“It suited Celtic after that because they were very dogged and sat in and because Rangers were chasing the game they were always susceptible to losing a second on the break and that’s how it played out.”